Many people have long utilized firearms to shoot projectiles of various sorts. For example, military personnel, law enforcement officers, hunters, and precision target shooters use different types of firearms (or weapons platforms) for different purposes. Commonly, people use firearms, including long guns, in conjunction with a bipod, to assist them in acquiring steadying their aim on a target and to prevent shooter fatigue in the field. There are many different types of tripods, bipods, and even monopods (“stabilizers”) appropriate to match shooting conditions and to provide helpful support and stabilization when acquiring a target. In many instances, stabilizers are mounted to a long gun and never removed.
Conventional stabilizers are typically not suited or designed for many different shooting applications and/or environments, e.g., some stabilizers may be designed for shooting from the prone position, while others are designed for shooting from the sitting, standing, or kneeling positions. It may be desirable, for example, to use a bipod when shooting from a prone position, but change to a taller tripod when shooting from a kneeling or standing position. Thus, some long gun users may wish to utilize different supports on the same firearm due to changes in the intended application, mission, or shooting environment.
Changing the support on a long gun can be a lengthy exercise and can pose equipment adjustment and tooling challenges. Installing bipods on a long gun, for example, may require tools and other special equipment and may require a gunsmith or armorer.
Some manufactures have devised various mounting bracket devices to provide a platform for mounting different shooting supports. Typically, these mounting brackets are rigidly and permanently attached to the forend of a firearm and supports can be attached or mounted to these brackets. Bipods are commonly attached to weapons using a screw-in stud. With advancing technologies these existing mounting brackets cannot accommodate supplemental or multiple supports. Because of the rigid attachments of the mounting bracket, there is no current capability to rapidly attach and detach a tandem mounting bracket to and from a weapon.